Unless you just want to vent, the reason you post things on Twitter is to influence people. But you can’t influence people who don’t see your tweets. The more people who see your tweets, the more influential you are. So you should increase your Twitter followers.

Be Informative. People like useful information. Link to How To articles. Give useful tips, like “Order the Margharita Pizza at Stefano’s.”

Get Followed By People With Lots of Followers. Network overlap is the number one driver of followers. If you know someone with lots of followers, ask them to follow you.

Fill Out Your Profile. Longer profiles earn more followers because people want to know about the people they follow. Link to your facebook page, to your blog, or to someplace where people can learn more about you. And tell people where you live, because we like people who are like us, even if they only share a name like ours.

So here’s your super simple task for this week: post 3 positive tweets every day. About anything. “My kids are great!” “Here’s some good news we can use [link].” If you want, you may add one negative or neutral post.

For 20 years, the Battleground Poll of States (now the Politico/GW Battleground Poll) showed a freakish consistency about ideology.

2009: 59% Conservative

2012: 57% Conservative

With almost 60% calling themselves somewhat or very conservative, how could Barack Obama get re-elected? How could Republicans fail to gain the Senate in 2010 and 2012? Come to think of it, how do Democrats win at all?

The answer is simple: being conservative doesn’t make you Republican, but being Democrat makes you a liberal.

Look at responses to question d4:

Only 40 percent of respondents called themselves Republican (of some type), while 43 percent identify as Democrats.

Now, look again at ideology. Thirty-seven percent identify as liberal. So Democrats would appear to win over all liberals, all “moderates” and at least half those who don’t know or refused to answer question d3.

Meanwhile, at least 30 percent of self-described conservatives do not identify with the Republican party.

When you look at voter turnout, it seems clear that what Republicans are missing is 30 percent of conservatives. They just don’t vote.

Why?

Because the Republican Party isn’t conservative in their eyes. So they stay home or vote third party.

Becoming More Liberal Isn’t The Solution

We hear a lot of Republicans saying the GOP must become more liberal. The Battleground Poll seems to disagree. Instead, the GOP needs to become more consistent in its defense of freedom and its promotion of liberty.

That means:

Reducing the size and scope of the federal government

Ending the Republican love affair with crony capitalism

Flattening the tax code until we convert to a simple consumption tax

Eliminating income taxes eventually

Scaling back the war on drugs

Eliminating the Department of Education

Reducing foreign investments

Scaling back the power of the federal reserve

When libertarian and young voters look at Republicans, we see a party that worships government as much as the Democrats. Republicans are just as quick to hold Congressional hearings on issues that belong to the states alone. Republicans crave the power of committees and brag about bringing home pork to their districts and states.

As I demonstrated, young people can smell a scam more readily than older voters, and they smell one when the GOP talks about reducing government. Government grew under Bush and a Republican Congress. It grew under Reagan and a Republican Senate.

The only real rollback of government power came under Clinton and a Republican Congress with welfare reform.

Republicans Will Never Win Over The Middle

With 57 percent of voters calling themselves conservatives, the GOP has no need to win over the middle. Instead, they need to win over all 57 percent of conservatives.

Even you argue that those 57 percent are unequally distributed, you can’t argue that they all voted in 2012. If they had—and if they had all voted Republican—Romney would have captured a popular vote landslide. But he didn’t.

If the Republican Party were authentically pro-liberty, pro-freedom, and pro-people, it would wipe out the Democrats election after election. But its inconsistency has the GOP on the verge of extinction.

I agree with Republican Senator Corker that inflation is a danger in the future. But inflation doesn’t win the hearts and minds of most Americans right now. No one’s worried about it except economists and economics geeks.

The death of the community and regional bank, however, does bother people. As does the printing of money that goes straight into the 5 biggest banks in history . . . and stays there.

The US Government bailed out those 5 “too big to fail” banks in 2008 and it’s been propping them up with our money ever since. That was one of the driving forces behind the birth of the Tea Party movement in February 2009.

Encouraging Boehner to shut down the government is the surest way to end conservatism as a practical political alternative.

The GOP has no leverage in budget negotiations, and conservative denial won’t change that.

Use Game Theory

As I wrote on November 12, fighting Obama – voting down a budget in the House – results in the GOP’s worst possible outcome: total blame for anything that goes wrong and no credit for anything that goes right.

Obama’s not an idiot, and neither are the media. That’s why Obama proposed tax increases, executive power increases, and spending increases far beyond those previously proposed.

The cliché “elections have consequences” hasn’t gotten through some people’s heads. It will.

Expect Obama to get almost everything he demanded.

$1.6 Trillion tax hike—the largest in world history

Vast new powers for the president, including the power to raise the debt ceiling (or end the ceiling)

Big increases in social and construction spending

Effective elimination of the principle that the House originates tax and spend bills

In other words, it’s over. The Congress is going the way of the Reichstag—a formalized debate society that endorses the president’s dictates.

Fixing a problem requires, first, an honest understanding of the real situation. Passing a Republican budget in the House might make YOU feel good (“Yeah! Boehner. Way to stick it to the man!”), but it won’t change what happens:

Senate blocks

Obama goes on tour of 5 states hurt most by the fiscal cliff

Media runs 24/7 stories on the mounting “Republican Body Count” of Americans dying because Boehner drove the government train off the fiscal cliff

Panicked Republicans call on Boehner to pass the President’s tax cuts

House Republicans cave

Obama has a beer party

Obama’s power becomes effectively absolute.

If that’s what you want, then throw your temper tantrum and enjoy the consequences.

There Is Only One Option For House Republicans

Here’s the best strategy for Boehner to follow:

Walk away from the negotiations

Tell the president the House GOP will vote “Present”

Spend $2 billion over 2 years on marketing, networking, and advertising the dangers of doing what Obama just did

Focus on 2014

My solution might suck, but it’s what we, the people, voted for.

P.S. If you meet a “constitutionalist” or “conservative” who voted 3rd party, thank him for the worst-case scenario playing out before our eyes